Posts Tagged ‘ranking’

Jerusalem (TPS) – The Wikipedia Ranking of World Universities, a new technology-based ranking of the world’s most influential universities, has ranked seven Israeli academic institutions in the top 250 universities worldwide, cementing Israel’s position as a global leader in academic research.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is ranked highest among Israeli institutions and ranked 47th in the world. It is followed by the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) in 108th place, Tel Aviv University in 168th place, Weizmann Institute of Science in 183rd place, Bar-Ilan University in 201st place, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 221st place, University of Haifa in 211th place, Ariel University in 321st place, and Holon Institute of Technology in 670th place.

The UK led the rankings, with Cambridge and Oxford taking first and second place, followed by American universities Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton. Outside the US and the UK, Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany ranked highest at 11th place followed by Uppsala University in Sweden in 15th place.

The Wikipedia Ranking of World Universities is based on a computerized analysis of the number of times that institutions of higher education are mentioned in Wikipedia. The new ranking applies algorithms used by Google to rank websites in search engine results against the number of references to universities in the 24 different language editions of Wikipedia.

The new ranking method produced results that have an overlap of about 60% with the Top 100 and a 90% overlap with the Top 10 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Shanghai Ranking and widely considered the most objective ranking of the world’s universities.

The creators of the Wikipedia ranking methodology claim that the ranking is intended to avoid cultural, historical or geographical biases that can affect traditional ranking systems.

“Ranking approaches are based on human selection rules which cannot be comprehensive and may favor certain cultural choices and preferences,” researchers Jose Lages and Antoine Patt of the Université de Franche-Comte and Dima L. Shepelyansky of the Université de Toulouse wrote in a paper.

“It is thus useful to have an independent statistic method which would rank universities independently of any human rules,” they added. “The Wikipedia ranking can be viewed as a new independent ranking that complements already existing approaches. We hope that our method will be used often together with other rankings.”

Vienna retains the top spot as the city with the world’s best quality of living, according to the Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey. Zurich, Switzerland, and Auckland, New Zealand, follow in second and third place, respectively, and Munich is in fourth place, followed by Vancouver, which ranked fifth. Düsseldorf dropped one spot to rank sixth followed by Frankfurt in seventh, Geneva in eighth, Copenhagen in ninth, and Bern, Switzerland, and Sydney, Australia, tied for tenth place.

Here’s another common denominator to all the cities above: these are all cities I won’t be caught dead living in. Two of my favorite cities barely made the cut: New York City came in 44th and Tel Aviv 99th. I didn’t see Jerusalem anywhere in the survey, although it could be tucked away in the full list, which you have to buy (not gonna’ happen).

New York came in 30th on the Infrastructure Ranking list (seriously? with the longest and most complex subway system in the world?) and Tel Aviv 58th – hey, ahead of 72nd spot Abu Dhabi!

In the Americas, Canadian cities still dominate the top of the index, with Vancouver (5) retaining the top regional spot, followed by Ottawa (14), Toronto (15) and Montreal (23). Calgary ranks 32nd on the overall quality of living ranking.

Honolulu (28) is the U.S. city with the highest quality of living, followed by San Francisco (29) and Boston (35). Chicago is at 42 and Washington, DC ranks 43rd.

In the Middle East and Africa, Dubai (73) and Abu Dhabi (78) in the United Arab Emirates are the region’s cities with the best quality of living. Port Louis in Mauritius (82), Cape Town (89) and Johannesburg (94) follow, and along with Victoria in the Seychelles (96) and Tel Aviv (99), are the region’s only other cities in the top 100.

The Middle East and Africa have 15 cities in the bottom 20, including Lagos, Nigeria (202); Bamako, Mali (209); Khartoum, Sudan (217); and N’Djamena, Chad (218). Baghdad, Iraq (221) is the lowest-ranking city both regionally and globally.

Last month, Yoni Alpert’s Terror Watch reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards along with Hezbollah’s security apparatus arrested Hussein Fahs, who is considered Hezbollah’s CFO and head of the organization’s operational communications network. Fahs was arrested at Beirut’s Hariri Airport, on his way to an unknown destination. He and four other Hezbollah members were interrogated on suspicion of embezzling the organization’s funds and of collaborating with Israeli Intelligence. At the time it was suspected that they stole at least $5 million in Iranian aid funds.

Now it turns out, according to TW, citing Lebanese sources, that Fahs, a 29-year-old telecommunications engineer, a native of southern Lebanon, was able to flee the country, crossing the border into Israel.

According to official Hezbollah sources, Fahs took with him maps, classified documents and a large sum of money.

In somewhat related news, on Tuesday a Lebanese Military Tribunal Judge by the name of Imad al-Zein issued eight arrest warrants against Lebanese citizens charged with collaborating with Israel, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

According to the report, seven women and one man are charged in absentia with collaborating with Israel, entering Israel illegally and obtaining Israeli citizenship.

The suspects face 15 years of hard labor in prison—but, naturally, they would have to be captured first

The eight are also natives of southern Lebanon.

According to Nahar Net, Lebanese authorities have arrested more than 100 people on suspicion of collaborating with the Israeli spy agency Mossad since April 2009, including high-ranking security and telecommunications officials.

According to a new study released Tuesday, Israel is the world’s second most educated country, after Canada.

The “Education at a Glance 2012” report analyzing members of the OECD found that

46% of all 25-64 year-olds in Israel have a higher education. Canada rated 51%, with the third highest – Japan – following at 45%. The United States has a higher education rate of 42%, with the average OECD state registering 30%.

Israel also ranked high in the percentage of graduates of upper secondary education and the number of hours children spend in the classroom.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and the Weizmann Institute of Science were ranked in the top 100 universities in Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s authoritative 2012 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

The Hebrew University achieved the highest rank – 53rd, with the Technion in 78th place, and the Weizmann Institute coming in at 93rd. Significantly, this is the first time that more than one Israeli university made the top 100.

The ARWU has conducted the rankings since 2003, and is regarded as one of the most influential international university rankings. Over 1200 universities are considered and the top 500 are ranked.

Topping the list was Harvard University, which has done so in each of the ten years that the rankings have been conducted. Altogether, seventeen US universities made the top twenty; the UK’s Cambridge University(#5) and Oxford University (#10), as well as Japan’s University of Tokyo (#20) also made it into the top twenty.

Hebrew University jumped four spaces since last years rankings, and has improved considerably since the first ranking in 2003, when it was ranked 94th. The Technion and Weizmann Institute experienced a significant jump in their rankings, with both breaking the top 100 for the first time; in 2011, both ranked in the 101-150 bracket in 2011. Ranked according to specific fields, the Israeli universities fared even better: the Weizmann Insitute ranked twelfth in computer sciences, the Hebrew University ranked sixteenth in Mathematics, and the Technion ranked 29th in chemistry.

Altogether, six Israeli universities made it onto the list: Tel Aviv University ranked in top 101-150, while Ben Gurion University and Bar Ilan University ranked in the 301-400 bracket.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, commenting Wednesday on the publication of the rankings, said: “This ranking proves that our Government’s unprecedented investment in Israeli academia has led to results. We are investing NIS 7 billion in universities, in a multi-year plan, in centers of excellence, in bringing Israeli minds back home, and our efforts are bearing fruit.

“I am especially happy over the high ranking of Israeli institutions in computer science – with four Israeli universities among the 30 leading institutions in the world,” he continued. “This is another sign that Israel is continuing to establish itself as a global high-tech power. My Government will continue to invest in education – from pre-school to higher education.”

Minister of Education Gideon Saar and high ranking officials of the educational system toured Hebron this morning, visiting the Machpela Cave, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and participating in a Brit ceremony taking place at the time. Minister Saar was honored during the ceremony. The newborn was named Maayan Avishai, named after his uncle Avishai Schindler, who was murdered by Arab terrorists on August 30th, 2010 together with three other Israelis.

Minister Saar later recited Psalms in the Abraham Hall at the Machpela Cave, and then visited the Avraham Avinu synagogue and finally, Beit Hadassah.

Last year Minister Saar initiated a new program whereby Israeli schoolchildren would visit Hebron and Ma’arat HaMachpela, the roots of the Jewish people. Since the inception of this program, hundreds of children have visited Hebron.

Today the Minister was accompanied by the senior staff from the education ministry, allowing them to experience the same tour given to Israeli school children.

The Education Minister is one of several senior officials who have recently visited Hebron.

The Moody’s credit rating agency lowered its outlook for the credit rating of Israel’s banking system from stable to “negative,” due to the economic challenges it faces in the next 12 to 18 months.

However, the agency did not lower the ratings of the banks themselves, and only two weeks ago has ratified the Israeli economy’s ranking with an A1 rating and a “stable” outlook. Moody’s also noted the Israeli economy’s proven resilience in the past.

The main reasons Moody’s offered for the potential downgrading are the slowing down of Israel’s economic growth in 2012, which is expected to shrink from 4.8% to 2.8%; the challenges posed by Israel’s geopolitical region; and difficulties in exporting Israeli goods to Europe.